Who hasn’t heard of celebrities who have chosen to go “raw”? Every time I’ve heard about a raw food activist, I’ve wondered why and then just as rapidly dismissed the thought from my head. But, recently those fleeting thoughts kept gnawing at me the way these raw followers gnaw on carrots and uncooked nuts.
So, here’s what I gathered in my mind prior to reading anything about the Raw Food diet and based on what I know from the scientific research: cooking can lead to the formation of some pretty bad compounds in our food. Yesterday I mentioned acrylamides (in potato chips, french fries, baked goods). But, there are also heterocyclic amines (HCAs) formed in muscle meats cooked at high temperatures (ahem, grilling for instance). According to the research and the National Cancer Institute, certain HCAs are carcinogenic (cancer promoting). Slow cooking is better or, at least cook meats with herbs (many fresh herbs decrease the production of HCAs) and cut off charred portions. And then there are AGEs (advanced glycation end products) formed by heating sugars with fats or proteins. AGEs may play a role in cardiovascular disease through inflammation and oxidative stress. And, they are implicated in a number of other chronic diseases as well including insulin resistance in type 2 diabetics, liver disease, and cancer.
What does all of this mean? How your food is cooked may play just as important a role in the disease process as what you are eating. If you don’t want to go raw, at least limit your intake of fried, broiled and grilled foods. Opt instead for steaming, boiling and stewing. Throw out the deep fat fryer and buy a steamer and slow cooker instead (Crock Pot).
Alas, I read a little more about the Raw Food diet and the claims of fantastic skin, abundant energy, weight loss etc. It seems as if I was way off base though. Proponents go raw because they believe cooking destroys the enzymes in food and cooking diminishes the nutritional value of food (neither of which is entirely correct; sometimes cooking increases the nutritional bioavailability of certain nutrients and most of us have plenty of enzymes in our body to digest our food). What they don’t know is that there are other, way more important benefits they are achieving from eating a diet at least 75% raw.
Given the limitations on what a person can eat to become a raw food activist, I can guarantee you won’t see me on this diet anytime soon. But, I will minimize my intake of food cooked on very high temperatures and encourage others to do so as well.